In pitch dark at 40 below, a research expedition set out to the icy Arctic Ocean in January 2015.Their goal: to better understand ongoing changes in the Arctic due to a shift from an older and thicker ice cover that would survive the summer melt to a younger and thinner one that, to a larger degree, melts away in the summer.

The powerful 2015-2016 El Niño has passed its peak but remains strong and will continue to influence the global climate, according to the latest update from the World Meteorological Organization. It is expected to weaken in the coming months and fade away during the second quarter of 2016. Eastern and central tropical Pacific Ocean surface temperatures were more than 2 degrees Celsius above average in late 2015, providing evidence that the 2015-16 El Niño is one of the strongest on record, comparable with the 1997-98 and 1982-83 events. It is too early to establish conclusively whether it was...

17 November 2016 (Marrakech, Morocco) - African least developed countries and Pacific Islands will be the first to benefit from upgraded early warning systems against weather and climate-related shocks under an action plan outlined at the United Nations climate change conference.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in September 2015, will serve as the centrepiece for national and international policymaking over the next 15 years. It sets out 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 associated targets and describes a number of international mechanisms for supporting implementation. National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and the broader WMO community can contribute to the SDGs at the national and international levels.

The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) serves as a fundamental basis for international climate research. The process represents a remarkable technical and scientific coordination effort across dozens of climate modelling centres, involving some 1 000 or more researchers.

Efforts to reduce fuel burn and thus carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions in aviation over the past four decades have been impressive. Operational measures in line with new air traffic management systems, as well as new technological concepts, all have the potential to continue reducing these CO 2 emissions. The Commission for Aeronautical Meteorology (CAeM) supports aviation stakeholders in their efforts to operate under changing climate conditions.

“Investments made in women and girls are great multipliers of development progress,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas, who recently joined the ranks of the Geneva Gender Champions with a commitment...

Extreme weather increasingly linked to global warming The World Meteorological Organization has published a detailed analysis of the global climate 2011-2015 – the hottest five-year period on record - and the increasingly visible human footprint on extreme weather and climate events with dangerous and costly impacts. The record temperatures were accompanied by rising sea levels and declines in Arctic sea-ice extent, continental glaciers and northern hemisphere snow cover.